Sampled as a vertical in tasters at a barleywine tasting event. 2014 tried alongside 2001.
The 2014 barleywine was delicious - a bright, young barleywine that was not overly saccharine despite having the classic robust malt presence. Trace hints of hop, and a less heavy mouthfeel contributed to an autumnal palate. Excellent.
The 2001 extraordinary. An incredible window into what can happen within the confines of a bottle over a decade and a half. Gone were the light, youthful notes of trace hop and sugars. They were instead replaced with a toffee, caramel syrup. Notes of dates and figs more prominent than in almost any bottle I've tried before. A true treat to try 15 years aged.

This is absolutely a standout barleywine. One of my favorite instantiations of one of my favorite styles.

2001 vintage. Pours a very dark brown. Still a bit of carbonation on this 15-year-old beer. A minimal skiff of tan head.
Aroma is a dream of malt. Fine leather, tobacco, toffee, dark fruit, peanut butter and vanilla. Crazy.
The taste starts off rich, sweet caramel and plum. As it flows over the tongue, I pick up leather, tobacco, peanut butter, chocolate and chocolate cake. Each sip seems to bring new tastes. Sweet and rich throughout.
Mouthfeel is medium and sticky.
This bottle aged beautifully!

A - 9.3oz poured into a snifter. Very faint pop on the bottle cap. Poured dirty brown bathwater brown. Zero head on first half of the poured so it aggressive finishing the pour and still couldn't manage any. Leaves no lacing, only a thick mineral oil residue.

T - wow. This is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I'm honestly not even sure how to describe what I'm tasting. It's sweet, very sweet but in no way as sweet as the nose indicates. All your standard dark fruitiness is there but it's different. Yellow raisens come to mind with each sip. There is a unique bitterness I would almost describe as leather, perhaps its somewhat oxidized, though it's not like the cardboard I've tasted in other beers. There's a roastiness as it finishes, or smokiness even.

Overall quite an experience. Eager to put beer advocate down and sip through the rest of this. At $10 for 9oz this is among one of the most expensive beers I've purchased. However I likely will again on occasion.

2001 bottle opened up 9/16/2016.
Look: Maroon brown, no head left, with sediment blobs maybe 1cm across.
Smell: Sugary, caramelly, rasin, port and dark wine, oak, vanilla, cinnamon, sugary syrup, plum, some alcohol
Taste: Sugary sweet rasins and aged port wine flavors, super, super rich and complex, like a freshly caramelized flambe or banana fosters with rum and brown sugar
Mouthfeel: Thick, syrupy, no carbonation left outside of a bubble that formed on the pour, somewhat thick, and incredibly full feeling.
Overall: Epic, would absolutely do again. Bought it to celebrate closing on a house, would buy another house to get another one (just kidding, but it is really good)

Had a 2001 vintage in 2016, and it was unreal. Sweet, mellow, toasted malty, Madeira, caramel. Literally everything I had hoped and imagined an English Barleywine could be. We were blown away, and hadn't expected much for something that sits on shelves for years. But to our taste a far superior beer to BCBW and almost any other Barleywine I've tried.

Taste: Much smoother and less cloying than the Sherry cask Lees Harvest Ale I had yesterday. Toffee and orange peel. A little bit of cloves and all spice. 4.0

Feel: Minimal carbonation, but not flat. Smooth and soft. 4.0

Overall: Clearly a well-made and unique English barleywine. I think how much you like it is going to depend on much you like the Lees style in general. Each one I've had so far has this interesting flavor that's sort of a combination of orange marmalade and tobacco. I could see it being polarizing. 4.0

Poured nearly black with lot's of sediment and a very loose head. Super rich aroma with date squares, sugar, molasses, dark fruits, and rye bread. Very sweet in the mouth with a flavour that resembles those old school molasses Haloween candies as well as licorice, leather, and tawny port. Viscous mouthfeel with very low carbonation.

This was pretty lovely and showed some flavours that suggest the ageing was spot on. A wonderful treat that cements this beer as a classic.

Pours a murky brown with no head.
Aroma is very sweet. Toffee and dark fruit are dominant. Some sherry aromas also. Quite pleasant.
Taste is also very sweet. I think it has crossed over from sweet to cloying. Raisins and figs. Maybe some overripe cherries. Caramel and toffee.
Mouthfeel is interesting because it has zero carbonation. Slick and slightly syrupy but if call it medium-full body.

Appearance: Light murky muddy brown with hints of orange. The head is very short and eggshell white which fades out instantly.

Aroma: Light sweet caramel aroma. No alcohol at all which is very impressive.

Taste: It has a fantastic array of flavors here. There is this sweet caramel flavor up front and then there is this light smokey woody flavor along with a fairly good amount of tobacco flavor. No alcohol at all. I really like the light char flavor that is in there. It adds an edge to the sweetness and cuts into the caramel.

Mouthfeel: It's very smooth and easy to drink with a slightly off-dry finish. Very drinkable, especially for 11.5% ABV.

Overall: it's a very decadent English Barleywine. I really enjoyed the flavors and the nice sweet flavor of the beer married with that rich earthy and toasty wood and tobacco flavor. I would recommend it.

On a side note I want to mention that the bottle is only 9.3oz/275mL which is disappointing. I didn't figure this into my rating of the beer but I wish they stuck with a standard bottle size.

Pours a bit murky amber with a thin off-white head that recedes to a small ring and sticks around. A little bit of retention.

Rich and fruity upfront followed with fresh baked bread becoming more vinous towards the finish. Bready malts linger on the finish. Very long and evolving. Brown sugar and oranges. Spiced rum cake. Finishes drier than expected.

2012 vintage. Pours a murky mahogany brown with no head. As soon as you bring it to your nose you Know your in for an excellent beer. Taste reminds me of a port. So delicious. For me there was an aftertaste of a bitterness just like Campari. Never had that taste in a beer and enjoyed that , too.

Doing three reviews on the 2015, 2011, and 2008 vintages over the next three days, and I'll be updating my scores with each.

Starting with the 2015, it pours a very pretty mahogany with a dense half-inch head, tiny packed bubbles, and ultimately leaves a ring around the beer glass but only spotting lacing. Nose is boozy, rich malt, and some earthiness from the EKG that makes it past the malt overtones. Not very complex, but this vintage is very young (just released last month). Taste is sweet, malty, boozy. A bit more bitterness on the finish than anticipated helps it from being too cloying. Brown bread and honey. Mouthfeel is full and thick...about what you'd expect from an 11.5% barleywine, but the higher-than-expected carbonation also helps keep it from being cloying. Overall, a good beer that should improve with time. Fingers crossed on the next one. Look 4.25, Smell 3.75, Taste 4, Feel 4.25, Overall 4. Total 3.98 at this point.

Next is the 2011. The appearance seems lighter in color with some orange. In fact, the JW Lees website notes the 2015 is darker than most previous years. The nose is still malty and earthy, but less boozy. I'm not going to change my scores for either of these categories. The taste has evolved, however. Richer caramelized sugars. Still lots of brown bread and honey. Worth an extra .25 in my opinion in both the taste and overall scores. Look 4.25, Smell 3.75, Taste 4.25, Feel 4.25, Overall 4.25. Total 4.13 at this point.

Finally, the 2008. Pour is darker again, more like the 2015, but there is very little head anymore. Some bits of stuff in the bottom. Nose has really changed; it is very raisin/prune and sweet. Taste is also like liquid raisins. Port/sherry comparisons now obvious. Worth an extra .5 on the nose and .25 taste, with a minus .5 on look. If this beer was a little less over-the-top sweet, I could give even higher scores. Look 3.75, Smell 4.25, Taste 4.5, Feel 4.25, Overall 4.25. Total 4.32.

This poured dark brown with no head and a slight murky edge. Not bad looking at all, for a 15 yr old. The aroma is very complex. It is an amalgam of tobacco, toffee, honey and candied almonds. The prominent flavor is honey, lots of sweet honey tones. The mouthfeel is very appropriate, as its viscous and syrupy. Upon a few imbibes, the taste has quite a long finish that keeps radiating flavors of black tea leaves. It's surprising for how sweet the beer tastes, it is not cloying and I think it's because it's supported by those dark tea-like tannins.

This was very interesting. Its quite amazing when you get to drink a perfectly cellared vintage beer. This is definitely a dessert sipper, not a post-workout or shower beer. A nice splurge.

Cask of 2015 vintage.
Sweet and near cloying but acceptable given style and ABV.
High abv is not hidden but the ale is not hot.
Complex aroma is better than the flavor which would probably benefit from some aging.

A: Pours out nice and gloopy. Lovely clear bright amber with an off-white bubbly head.
S: Bready yeast and loads of rum. Cannot overstate how rummy it smells.
T: Yup, very rummy indeed. Very sweet, but not as sweet as the cherry/whisky cask aged versions I've tried. Gloopy and almost flat but has a very classy effervescence. Drinks like it's on cask. Very cough-syrup like. The mouthfeel is just perfect. Liquorice makes a late appearance.
O: It's taken a couple of years to hunt down one of these buggers but the wait was worth it.

had a hard time finding this one. great smell when the cap came off. English barleywines are a bit different that us barelywines in my opinion. takes a little getting used to. great taste. also found some barrel aged versions.

Dirty brown red-ish tea color. Fizzy carbonation that quite quickly fades to nothing. Quite nice smell--lots of toffee. Tastes sweet but with an kind of off grassiness to it. Maybe it's me, but I don't love it. Swing and a miss.

This is like a steak that's been aged too long--I want to like it, and I feel like I should like it, but maybe the flavor is just too "challenging" for me. But, on the premise that a beer is supposed to be enjoyable rather than challenging, I am forced to give the taste a (relatively) low rating.